Lawsuit Challenges Holding back Third Grade Students Over Standardized Tests | FlaglerLive (2023)

FAQs

How standardized testing damages students? ›

“Teachers and parents report that high-stakes tests lead to higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of confidence on the part of elementary students,” researchers explained in a 2005 study.

Many believe that scores serve as indicators of future success, but standardized tests fail to assess students in crucial areas such as creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and artistic ability.

The problem of standardized testing is that it has less to do with the development of kids and a lot more to do with funding, which starts at the top of the federal hierarchy. Schools rely on test scores and graduation rates to acquire the same, or better, federal funding for the next year.

Standardized tests don't accurately measure student learning and growth. Unlike standardized tests, performance-based assessment allows students to choose how they show learning. Performance-based assessment is equitable, accurate, and engaging for students and teachers.

This can cause many mental issues as students are studying for long periods of time and stressing about a test. According to soeoline.com, “Standardized testing causes headaches, sleep problems, depression, anxiety, stress and attendance issues”. Standardized testing is also, in some cases, ineffective.

Teachers have also expressed that not only is standardized testing getting in the way of their teaching, but it has negative effects on their students such as poor self-confidence in low- scoring students, taking away student creativity, lowers student motivation, and test anxiety (Mulvenon, et al, 2005).

For example, the number of students who have the lowest test scores on standardized tests are disproportionately Black and male, and they are placed in special-education programs through standardized testing.

Standardized testing is often criticized for being discriminatory, in the sense that such tests reflect the quality of a student's education (i.e. the quality of their schooling, tutoring, etc.) instead of their personal knowledge.

Teachers and administrators should be accountable for the progress of their students. Districts and states should be accountable for the professional development and support they provide teachers and schools to enable students to reach high standards.

What are the two limitations of standardized test? ›

The two primary standardized tests used by colleges in the admissions process are the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing test, or ACT.

Standardized exams can show student improvement over time by taking the same tests over time. In addition, student test scores can also be easily compared to each other to show changes in progress. Ensure that all educational stakeholders are held accountable.

Standardized test scores are often tied to important outcomes, such as graduation and school funding. Such high-stakes testing can place undue stress on students and affect their performance. Standardized tests fail to account for students who learn and demonstrate academic proficiency in different ways.

Proponents of standardized testing argue that some kind of examination outside of school curricula—which can vary widely by school district—can help an education system better compare students from very different backgrounds because all these students took the exact same test.

When students with disabilities struggle with standardized testing, they may struggle with their self-esteem and question their abilities. The risk of dropping out of school goes up, especially if they can't pass a high-stakes test that is required for them to move on to the next grade level.

Stress and its effect on the brain might be one reason that students from low-income neighborhoods tend to fare worse on high-stakes tests. Children are affected by standardized testing, with some seeing their cortisol levels spike on testing days, and others seeing it drop, which might lead them to disengage.

Heightened test anxiety may affect 20 percent of school-aged children and 18 percent may experience milder forms of it. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America states that feelings of disappointment, anger, helplessness and fear are typical reactions to test anxiety.

Students who have high expectations of themselves can struggle with test anxiety. These students can have a difficult time dealing with mistakes, or what they perceive as failure. This can result in students becoming overwhelmed during a test, causing their minds to freeze or go blank.

10. Standardized tests reduce the richness of human experience and human learning to a number or set of numbers. This is dehumanizing. A student may have a deep knowledge of a particular subject, but receive no acknowledgement for it because his or her test score may have been low.

What do you struggle with most as a student? ›

Disadvantages of product standardization

When companies standardize products, they produce more of a smaller number of variations. This means that consumers have fewer choices between products, which may mean they end up purchasing something that doesn't meet all their needs or desires.

The main disadvantage to standardization is that it reduces the flexibility of a chain to cater for regional tastes and expectations.

A test can be identified as biased when one group's scores are predictably different compared to another group of test-takers. This can be prevented by understanding test bias, which include cultural bias, content bias, method bias, and item bias.

Three types of bias can be distinguished: information bias, selection bias, and confounding.

For example, a bias exists where black people are thought to feel less pain, so doctors give them less medicine for pain. The same racial bias exists when people borrow money from a bank. White persons tend to pay less for loans for cars and homes than persons of other races. But not all racial biases are negative.

Unethical testing conduct results in the invalidation of test scores, improper assessment of student proficiency, loss of vital services for low performers, unfair advantage over colleagues, and professional discipline such as termination and loss of certification.

In considering the ethical issues involved in psychological testing, three areas seem to be of paramount importance: informed consent, confidentiality, and privacy.

Being unfit to practice. Improper management of patient records. Violation of state laws, federal laws, or regulatory rules. Failure to report violations or errors.

How do you hold elementary students accountable? ›

Owned and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), GRE is among the world's most difficult exams. The exam is administered both online and in person. As a standardized test, GRE measures the overall academic readiness of students who want to attend graduate school.

New York tops list of states with most difficult tests.

However, too much testing could lead to much pressure on students and teachers to learn and teach for a test, something that would take the joy out of the learning process.

Standardized tests are made to measure a student's intelligence; however, a person's intelligence should not be determined by how well they can score on a test. There are many factors that can go into a negative test score, one of the main ones being testing anxiety.

Test anxiety is a common occurrence in classrooms, affecting the performance of students from kindergarten through college, as well as adults who must take job- related exams. Estimates are that between 40 and 60% of students have significant test anxiety that interferes with their performing up to their capability.

What are unintended consequences of standardized testing? ›

This Information Capsule reviews research conducted on the unintended consequences of high-stakes testing programs, such as narrowing of the curriculum, higher levels of student test anxiety, and increased pressure on teachers.

Stress and its effect on the brain might be one reason that students from low-income neighborhoods tend to fare worse on high-stakes tests. Children are affected by standardized testing, with some seeing their cortisol levels spike on testing days, and others seeing it drop, which might lead them to disengage.

Yale psychologist Robert Sternberg makes the point that a major fallacy of standardized testing is the notion that “smart is fast” “Jumping into problems without adequate reflection,” says Sternberg, “is likely to lead to false starts and erroneous conclusions.

Standardized exams can show student improvement over time by taking the same tests over time. In addition, student test scores can also be easily compared to each other to show changes in progress.

NCLB created a school environment that is unnecessarily competitive and goes to extremes to punish schools that do not live up to these competitive standards. In addition, value added-assessment—basing teacher pay on performance—adds to the existing pressure teachers and principals already feel to raise test scores.

Factors that impact or influence performance in a testing situation include client/patient/student factors, clinician factors, environmental factors, and those involving the actual testing process itself.

Teachers have expressed frustration about the time it takes to prepare for and administer tests. Teachers may feel excessive pressure from their schools and administrators to improve their standardized test scores. Standardized tests measure achievement against goals rather than measuring progress.

For many students, it can be a combination of things. Poor study habits, poor past test performance, and an underlying anxiety problem can all contribute to test anxiety. Fear of failure: If you connect your sense of self-worth to your test scores, the pressure you put on yourself can cause severe test anxiety.